Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-06-10
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by The way, was shaped exactly Ike The one
IN which Ayesha had sat 10 Give Judgments
wus short inscription IN the extraordinary
characters OF which liayo already spoken,
but which do not remember sufficient OF to
illustrate. It looked more like Chinese writ
ing than any other that am acquainted
with. This inscription Ayesha proceeded,
with some difficulty and hesitation, to read
aloud and translate. 1t ran as follows;
"In the year 1850 from the founding OF tho
city Of imperial Kor was this cave Tor burial
place. completed by Tisno, king of Kor, tho
people thereof and their slaves having labored
thereat for three generations, to DO tomb
for their citizens OF rank who shall como
after. May the blessing Of the heaven rest
upon their work, and make tho sleep of Tisno,
tho mighty monarch, the likeness Of whose
features is craven above a sound and happy
sleep till the day OF awakening, and also
the sleep OF his servants, and Of those OF his
race, who, rising up after him, shall yet lay
their heads as lowr
"Thou scest, o Holly" she said, "this peo-
pie founded the city, of which the ruins yet
cumber the plain yonder, 1000 years before
this cave was finished. Yet when first saw
1t, 1000 years ago, was 1t even as II is now
Judge, therefore, how old must the place
have beenl And now follow thou me, and
will show thee after what fashion this great
city fell when the time was come for 1t to
fall y and she led the way down to the center
OF tho cave, and stopped at spot where q
round rock had been lot into u sort of large
man hole i'll the flooring, accurately filling 1t
Just as tho iron plates gil the spaces In the
London pavements down which tho Goals arc
thrown. "Thou seest," she said. "1ell me,
what is itin
may, l know not" l answered; whereon
she crossed to the left hand side OF the cave
docking toward the cntrance), and bid tho
mutes hold up the lamps. On tho wall some
thingwns painted with rcd pigment In similar
characters to those hewn beneath tho sculp-
ture of Tisno, king Of Kor. This she pro
ceeded to translate to me, the pigment still
being quite fresh enough to show the form u
the letters.
~, Junis, priest of the great Temple OF
Kor, write this upon the rock in the year 4O05
from the founding Of Kor. Kor is fallen.
No more shall the mighty feast in her halls;
no more shall she rule the world, and her
navies go out to commerce with the world
Kor is fallen; and her mighty works, and all
the cities of Kor, and all the harbors that she
built and the canals that she made are
for the wolf and the owl and the wild swan,
and the barbarian who comes after Twenty
and five moons ago did a cloud settle upon
kor and the hundred cities of Kor, and out
of the cloud came pestilence that slew her
people, old and young, one with another, and
spared not. One with another they turned
black and died-the young and the old, the
rich and the poor, the man and the woman,
the prince and the slave. The pestilence
slew and slew, and ceased not by day or by
night, and those who escaped from the pesti-
lence were slain of the famine. No longer
could the bodies Of the children OF Kor be
preserved according to the ancient rites, be-
cause of the number of the dead; therefore
'rere they hurled into the grent pit beneath
the cave, through the hole in the cave. Then.
at last, remnant of this the great people,
the light of the whole world, went down to
the coast and took ship and sailed northward,
and now am l, the priest OF Junis, who write
this, the last man left alive out OF this great
city of men, but whether there be any yet
left in the other cities know not This do
write in misery Of heart before die, because
Kor the imperial is no more, and because
there are none TO worship In her temple, and
all her palaces arc empty, and her I,rihces
and her traders and her fair women havs
passed Off the face OF the earth"